Chapter 617 The Garlic Harvesting Incident
"Xiao An, go and wash your face and eat. Later I will go to the market to buy garlic seeds."
Zhang An just got up early in the morning and was wearing an apron. Wang Fang, the noodle cook, told him.
Wang Fang is the kind of person who does what she says. She just decided to plant garlic in winter last night and is going to buy garlic seeds today.
"Okay, Mom."
Zhang An didn't move around as usual, and went to the yard to wash up with a basin in hand.
Actually, it’s no wonder Wang Fang is anxious. Several days have passed since the Double Ninth Festival, and the next solar term is Frost’s Descent.
The best time to plant garlic is before frost.
And today happens to be the weekend. There is a big market in Hongyan Town, and many nearby villagers will go to the market to sell agricultural products, so today is the best time to buy garlic seeds.
If you want to buy garlic seeds on a day when there is no market, you have to go to the farmer's market in the city.
And today Su Ying is at home and doesn't have to go to school, so the lawless little guy has someone to watch.
After breakfast, Wang Fang had already searched a nylon bag and took it out. There were probably a dozen of them.
Zhang An’s family has a total of six acres of land. If they are to grow garlic, they will definitely need a lot of garlic seeds. Even if they are not planted too densely, it will cost more than a thousand kilograms at least.
Although it is still early, the road to the venue is very lively.
There were many more cars on the road to Hongyan Town than in the previous two years, but they were all horse-drawn carriages used by nearby villagers to carry passengers.
Compared with previous years, many more people are now willing to spend money to go to the market by horse-drawn carriage.
Unlike before, not many people were willing to spend this money, and there were only a few people driving carriages back and forth on the road.
Of course, there are many pedestrians on both sides of the road. In villages such as Changqing that are not far from Hongyan Town, many people still choose No. 11 bicycles.
The mother and son Zhang An and Wang Fang had a very clear purpose today, besides buying garlic.
So after arriving at the Hongyan Fair, I didn’t see anything and went straight to the basketball court in Hongyan Town.
Because the place here is relatively spacious and not as narrow as the streets on both sides, everyone has long regarded this place as a place to sell agricultural and sideline products.
But no matter how big this basketball court is, every time it’s time to catch a big gathering, this place is always full of people.
Entering the basketball court, Zhang An found that there were still many people selling garlic today. Maybe it was because it was the season to grow garlic recently, and everyone wanted to take advantage of this period to sell more.
However, although there are many people selling garlic, it seems that each of them does not bring too much garlic. One bag, two bags, and several hundred pounds of garlic.
This is normal. After all, garlic is not the main crop now. Although many people grow it, they don’t grow too much.
The task of choosing garlic seeds naturally fell on Wang Fang, because Zhang An couldn't choose at all. He only thought that garlic with larger cloves was better.
But sometimes garlic cloves may look big, but they may not be suitable for planting, and vice versa.
Although the stall owners were very enthusiastic about the garlic they put on display, saying that it was nothing but spectacular, Wang Fang looked at several stalls and was not satisfied.
Growing garlic is not the same thing as buying it to eat at home, so Wang Fang did not intend to give in. Feeling dissatisfied, she simply walked to the next store without even asking the price.
If Zhang An came here by himself, he would probably buy the garlic cloves from someone else because they were big and good-looking.
"Old man, how do you sell this garlic? How much does it cost per pound?"
Finally, when they came to an old man's stall, Wang Fang looked at it carefully for a while before asking.
“My garlic is good garlic. You see, the garlic cloves are almost the same size. It has a strong flavor and tastes delicious. I want to sell it for 4.5 cents, but I haven’t opened it yet. If you want it, Just four corners.”
The old man saw that someone was interested in his garlic, so he quickly responded enthusiastically, first taking the initiative to talk about the advantages of his garlic, and then the price.
I am afraid that if I tell you the price directly, others will not want to buy it.
However, this uncle was not as hyped as other people said. Zhang An took a look and found that the garlic heads in his pocket were relatively even and quite large.
“I can smell this. It’s our local garlic. You have a lot of it here. We all want it.”
Wang Fang can easily distinguish between local garlic and foreign garlic. Can tell.
Local garlic is not very big, but it is very stable to grow and tastes strong.
However, this is not necessarily the case for garlic from other places. Some garlic grown in the same field may be very large, while others may be very small.
This is the same as the southern tangerine and the northern tangerine. It may not be able to adapt to the local soil conditions.
Although many other places look larger in size, they are just superficial. When you really taste them, the garlic flavor is very weak.
So Wang Fang still prefers to plant local garlic seeds, firstly because her family is used to eating it, and secondly because the garlic is guaranteed.
“I only picked out one thing today, less than a hundred pounds.”
As soon as the old man heard Wang Fang tell him everything, his wrinkled face immediately changed. Laughter blossomed.
"Then you go out with your son to weigh him. After weighing him, he will give you money."
Wang Fang wanted to continue reading, so he asked the old man to take his Suan and Zhang An went to the car to weigh them, and they just put them in the car after weighing them.
The old man immediately tied up the bag containing the garlic and prepared to carry it out of the street with Zhang An.
His purpose today was to sell garlic. Now that he has sold out all the garlic, the task is considered completed.
"Uncle, there are too many people on the street. It's hard for you to carry it. I'll get it. Just follow me."
Now, this street is almost crowded with people. If you really let the old man pick out the intersection by himself, how long will it take to get out?
So Zhang An spoke to the old man, grabbed a bag of garlic in one hand, and led the old man through the crowd.
The old man was originally worried that Zhang An would grab his two packets of garlic and run away, but in the end he found that Zhang An would stop and wait for him from time to time when he left, so he felt relieved.
“Young man, you are very strong.”
Although I have not weighed it, the two bags of garlic were estimated to weigh more than forty pounds. The old man saw Zhang An carrying It looked like there was no effort at all, so he couldn't help but praise it.
If it were anyone else, even if they could lift forty or fifty pounds with one hand, it would not be so easy.
"Haha, people in our village say the same thing. Uncle, please follow me. If the crowd breaks up, go look for me at the pickup truck parked at the corner of the street."
Walking out of the basketball court, it was the most crowded place on the street. Zhang An was worried that the old man would be crowded out, so he spoke in advance.
Usually there is no place for a few steps, so it took Zhang An five minutes to lead the uncle out of the street.
Finally, the uncle had a total of ninety-three kilograms of garlic. After pouring it into his pocket, Zhang An took out the money and handed it to the uncle.
Because it sold quickly, the old man was so happy that he even gave him two cents.
"Young man, how much more do you want to buy for your family? I still have more than two hundred kilograms at home." When he saw the pickup truck, the old man already knew that Zhang An's family was definitely not an ordinary family, so he tried to speak He asked, if Zhang An still wanted it here, he would like to take the opportunity to sell the ones at home as well.
“My family wants to plant six acres of land, which will cost at least more than a thousand kilograms. Uncle, if you still have some at home, you can leave a place for me. If it’s close, I’ll come over then. Let’s take a look, but let’s say first, I don’t want the bad ones.”
Anyway, I’ll buy it for anyone. Since the old man still has it at home, Zhang An is willing to give it to him as long as it’s similar to these two bags. He took it.
“My home is in Yangliu Village. After entering the village, you can see a big apricot tree. That is my home. If you can’t meet anyone, you can just ask Mr. Liu’s home. My family is the only one in the village with the surname Liu. "
As soon as the old man heard what Zhang An said, he quickly announced his family name, then patted his chest and said in assurance.
"And don't worry, young man. Those in my family who have sorted out the bad ones will still have at least two hundred kilograms left. When the time comes, we will keep the bad ones for ourselves."
"Yangliu Village, it's not that far away. Then when I get back from work today, I'll go over and have a look."
Zhang An heard that it wasn't too far away, so he agreed immediately.
"Well then, I'll take it out and pick it up when I get home."
After receiving Zhang An's reply, the old man was very happy. He took his pole bag and didn't even go to the street. Turned around and went home.
When Zhang An went back to find his mother Wang Fang, he was only halfway there when he found that his mother was already walking towards him with five or six people carrying several large bags of garlic.
After asking, I found out that these people were all from the same village and grew local garlic. Wang Fang thought they were pretty good, so he simply called them all over.
Although they came together, they were not a family, so they were weighed separately.
Zhang An praised them one by one, and then poured money into his own pocket before asking Wang Fang to give money.
These are all young and strong men. The garlic they picked was carried in big bags. It was much more than the old man just now. When they picked it out, they were all between one hundred, thirty and forty. catty.
But that’s fine. The more they sell, the sooner Zhang An’s family can buy them all.
When Zhang An was weighing him until the last person, he realized something was wrong.
The two bags of garlic this man brought looked about the same, but one bag weighed several kilograms.
"It's done. Take a look at the scale, and then help change the pockets."
No need to think about it, there must be other things in it, but Zhang An didn't say a word.
"It's so troublesome to go back and forth. You bought so much garlic from me. It's just two nylon bags. I give them to you."
Seeing Zhang An take out his pockets to change clothes, finally The man who pretended to be very generous said to Zhang An.
This is a man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks and a mustache. As he speaks, he wants to pick up his two bags of garlic and put them into Zhang An's car.
Seeing him look like this, Zhang An was even more sure that there was something wrong.
"No need for this. We brought it ourselves. We might as well reinstall some. You can just take yours away."
So when he picked him up, Zhang An pressed him with one hand. The garlic bag that had just been lifted into the air was immediately pushed back to the ground.
Seeing that Zhang An spoke in a very strong and unquestionable tone, the man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks had no choice but to do as he was told.
But at this moment, his eyes kept rolling, and he was probably looking for other excuses.
As a result, before it was the turn of the packet that Zhang An felt was problematic, something had already gone wrong.
Because when Zhang An poured out the first bag, he found a lot of mud mixed at the bottom of the pocket.
"You didn't harvest the garlic cleanly. The mud weighs several kilograms at least. Forget it, put it back. I can't harvest the garlic."
Zhang An felt a little funny. Those who didn't see any problems already had problems, and those who just thought there were problems probably had bigger problems.
There were so many people in front of me, including the old man at the beginning. He collected more than 700 kilograms of garlic in total, and it was all clean. I have never seen such an exaggeration.
The reason why they have to bring their own pockets is to prevent this situation.
Garlic is indeed good garlic, but the mud is a bit disgusting.
Which kind family’s mud is so precious, worth 40 cents a pound.
“Oh, maybe when I was peeling the garlic bag at home, I didn’t notice that there was still mud inside. Please forgive me, so I can shake off the mud and weigh it again.”
Mustache Hearing Zhang An say that he would not accept their products, he became anxious on the spot and quickly apologized with a smile.
"Yeah, maybe I didn't pay attention when I was dressing up. Let him shake out the mud and weigh it again. It's not easy to pick it up from all the way. Boss, please help collect it."
Take it with him. Several other people traveling with him didn't seem to know, and were helping him intercede with Zhang An at this time.
"Okay, since you said so, as long as he shakes off the mud inside, I will pretend that it didn't happen."
Don't hit the smiling man, seeing so many people They were all laughing apologetically, Zhang An planned to give them a face.
“But I will check the next bag carefully. If it’s not clean inside, then I have no choice but to apologize.”
Then the mustache went to shake the bag. When the mud was in the bag, Zhang An said directly to the other bag.
"No, no, no."
Mustache originally wanted to say something, but was interrupted by several people from his village before he could speak.
As they spoke, they also took the initiative to help put their pockets on the ground, and then poured another bag of garlic on the ground.
But the next second, they couldn't even laugh in apology.
Because inside the bag of garlic that was poured out, there was not only mud, but also a large stone.
"I'm sorry, you'd better throw the garlic back, we can't take it here."
As soon as Zhang An saw the stone, he shook his head and rejected it on the spot.
He felt something was wrong just now. They were the same size and the weight was not symmetrical at all.
It turns out that there is such a big stone inside. If it is right, then there is a ghost.
Zhang An actually didn’t understand why he did this. It’s not like someone came to collect it, and they came all the way to pick it up and engage in such nonsense.
At this moment, even if the other people wanted to say something, they were no longer embarrassed to speak, so they had to silently help put the garlic poured out on the ground back into place.
After sending a few people away, Zhang An followed his mother around and collected several hundred more kilograms. At this time, he had collected more than a thousand kilograms in his car, but it was still far away from the estimated amount. It's even worse.
But the old man still has some at his house, so he doesn’t plan to accept any more, even if it’s close in the end, it doesn’t matter.
(End of this chapter)